Help with work permit application

You cannot apply your work permit by yourself, unless you are (oversees chinese) students or APRC holders.

The agency handling work permit is Workforce Develpment Agency, which is included in the image you attached in your first post. Here is their web site.
https://www.wda.gov.tw/en/
I think it is a good idea to ask the agency on the procedure to get your work permit.

Article 43 of Employment Service Act says as below.


Unless otherwise specified in the Act, no foreign worker may engage in work within the Republic of China should his/her employer have not yet obtained a permit via application therefore.


So, the employer is supposed to get a work permit for their foreign employee.

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I think you can contact the authorities directly. But maybe some paperwork from you company will be required. So, it will be better that the company will make it. But they probably do not want to do that. You should know that the application will charge 500NTD. So, the company may ask you to pay. Also, in order to hire a foreigner the company should satisfy some requirements (like to generate some revenue and so on) and provide some relevant papers. So, it can be the reason that some companies do not want to disclose such information. Anyway, I think you can ask them first or ask some friend to contact about the application procedure.

Here are the contact information:

Workforce Development Agency
Address: 4F., No.439, Zhongping Rd., Xinzhuang Dist., New Taipei City 24219, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Tel:(+886)2-8995-6000
Service hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30a.m.~12:30a.m.;1:30p.m.~5:30p.m.

Office hours for foreigner’s work permit application: Monday to Friday, 8:30a.m ~ 5:30p.m.
Address:10F, No. 39, Sec. 1, Zhonghua Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City

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As has been previously stated, this has Danger/Caution written all over it.

@padraig, If they’re requiring you to take this procedural step yourself (I’ve never even heard of a company doing this before, and I’ve been involved with some pretty squirrely outfits), the odds are a bazillion to one that this is first time they’ve ever employed an ARC-based foreigner. This entails a friggin cornucopia of potential impediments to stable and reliable employment.
One of these that should concern you immediately is that there’s an excellent chance that they didn’t perform the necessary legwork in determining if they can, in fact, even employ you legally.
Bookkeeper/HR departments here (the people who you’ll be dealing with directly re your legality etc) are pretty notorious for only being familiar with rules & regulations affecting their everyday operations. That is to say, if they haven’t encountered it before, they probably don’t know Jack about how it really works. I could tell you some stories.
Accordingly, they may not even qualify to provide you with an ARC.
You wouldn’t be the first, or the last, foreigner to make the fatal mistake of assuming the outfit has a friggin clue what they’re doing.

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Dude, the squirrels are so offended right now, you have no idea…

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So this guy is a taking a tour of a monastery high up in the Swiss alps, and the young brother who’s showing him around asks if he’d like to see the kitchen, that they’re preparing the noonday meal. Guy says OK, and they head over. The brother mentions that everyone’s pretty pumped because it’s Friday, and they’re having fish & chips, a crowd favourite.
So they step into the kitchen, and sure enough, it’s a hubbub of activity. The visitor, who considers himself a bit of a wag, sidles over to the nearest worker, and with a shit eating smirk, says “So, are you the fish friar??”
Without even batting an eye, the guy responds “No, I’m the chip monk.”

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Greencelot, please do a brief search on the subject of work pemits. I know you really want one, but desperation is a bad ally and terrible counsel.

Once I did go to the authorities with the paperwork thinking I could process the work permit. I was with our comapny’s secretary, who also had no idea how to do it. To say that we were scolded and chewed out would be an understatement. They made it clear we were on the wrong track.

  1. The company is the one in charge of dealing with the paperwork regarding your work permit because the work permit is theirs. The work permit gives validity to your ARC, when they fire you they cancel the work visa and your ARC is valid no more, no matter what is written on it. They have the power, not you.

  2. Your part si to provide the documents that say that you are legally capable to perform the job. That means you have relevant studies, experience, etc. and the paperwork that backs that up. You hand that to HR and that you have fulfilled your part.

  3. Their part first of all is to be legally able to hire you. They nee dto meet certain government requirements depending on their business. For example, being on teh clear regarding their tax payments. After that, it si a matter of simply filling out forms, easy peachy. But if they are cooking the books or avoiding taxes, they are likely not to apply legally to have a foreigner working on the premises.

Please do not work illegally. You are doing a favor to tax evasion artisst and it benefits no one, especially you. You may think that it is an advantage not to pay taxes. It is not. A lot of long term benefits go over you because of this.

Few links for your perusal:

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@Rocket and @Icon are pillars of knowledge on the boards.

It would be very wise to take their advice @padraig

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Mas sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo. :grandpa:

The devil knows a lot because he’s old, not because he’s the devil.

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They are right @padraig. Employers get work permits. Then, after the work permit, you should apply for the ARC if you need it to legally live here.

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Thank you everyone for your help.

They seem like a legit company. They literally paid for me to take the train both ways. And the were enthusiast to hire me.

@Icon @Rocket Where would you go from here? I still want to work for them and I need my workers permit. Should I be honest and tell them that the company usually applies for the work permit?

Nobody said they weren’t a legit company, just that they may have never hired a foreigner before and may not know how.
Is there a problem with telling them the truth, that the application procedure is asking you for details with which you are unfamiliar?

More than that, the smart money would be on keeping your other options active until these guys have landed all your paperwork

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@tando Where can I find this quote? It would be the utmost help to share with the company.

Without talking with them on the procedure to get your work permit, how would you be able to get your work permit?

You will easily find it by googling “Employment Service Act, taiwan”.
It’s Article 43 of the law.

I think you should carefully judge whether your employer is not familiar to employ a foreign teacher who needs a work permit, or they don’t have an intention to get a work permit for you.

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The first company that I worked for here didn’t know how to get me a work permit. They were thinking that I would just work here illegally without insurance and fly to HK every 3 months. Without a work permit, ARC, you can’t apply for insurance plus you would be working illegally.
I’m sure that if they really want to hire you, this is not a big deal for them. Just paperwork hassle.Once all paperwork is turned into WDA, it takes 10 days for the permit to arrive. This is not recommended, but I will admit that I was working for them as they were collecting all documents. I had already quit my job in the US and was here.

Your potential employer will have to meet some revenue criteria for them to hire you as well as some other things for you (education, minimum foreigner wage) for you depending on what kind of work you are doing.

Best of wishes for your new employment.

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This is a dumb question, but do you think they’d be offended if I sent them this link? https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/taiwan/working/work-permits/application-procedure

Best to send them something from a government entity website so they can switch it over to Chinese. They probably understand English, but they’ll read and understand it easier in Chinese.

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Out of curiosity, is this for the teaching job in Taipei? From the other thread, it seems like that’s the one you had your heart set on.

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Yeah I’m also curious which job you decided to persuit…

That is good advice. I will send the version straight from the government website.

I would suggest you to check sites below by yourself, and pick up which is suitable for your purpose. I put both of English and Chinese for each page.

But why not talk with them in parson, instead of sending a link.

The criteria to be eligible hiring a foreign employee is different for a cram school (=kindy) and other business company.

http://law.moj.gov.tw/MOBILE/lawEng.aspx?pcode=n0090001
Employment Service Act
Article 43
Unless otherwise specified in the Act, no foreign worker may engage in work within the Republic of China should his/her employer have not yet obtained a permit via application therefore.

http://law.moj.gov.tw/MOBILE/law.aspx?pcode=N0090001
就業服務法
第 43 條
除本法另有規定外,外國人未經雇主申請許可,不得在中華民國境內工作

https://www.wda.gov.tw/en/
Workforce development agency
https://www.wda.gov.tw
勞動部勞動力發展署

https://www.wda.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=32D9DA7591EA15F7
For Foreign Talents to Work in Taiwan
https://www.wda.gov.tw/cp.aspx?n=45B4CBF80003A38A
外國人才

http://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/ezworken/home.jsp?pageno=201508100052
Regulations
http://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/ezworkch/home.jsp?pageno=201508100052
法規

Their Q&A page will also help you to know on the procedure.

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